Press Release

“No, cause they weren’t. The first half was good, the second half we were totally out played. Very naïve from us. At some point you have to figure it out on the field. I can’t do much from where I am at except make changes in certain things, the lineup, and get other players in, but you got to stand up and be counted.”

On how frustrated he feels

“I feel terrible because I thought tactically we had it figured out. We did great in the first half, but the game is 90 minutes. You got to punish them with another goal, but I said at half time ‘they are going to come at you because they’re good.’ I don’t think we really wanted to win that game because we didn’t show it. If we wanted to, we would have put our head through the ball, and be good at that stuff. We had a total collapse in a game we should have won.”

On if the team broke down from Real Salt Lake’s pressure

“They’re a good side. They could have scored a couple first half [goals].The whole game is in ebbs and flows, we had some chances, took them, they had a couple, and Sean made two great saves. We’ve played eight games, we’ve not won yet. We got to go to a tough place next game, and we got to get a result.”

On keeping morale high without getting wins

“We will find out next week. We’ve not had that happen to us collapsing like that in the second half. Take nothing away from them but we should see that game out, 2-1, even 2-2, but not 3-2. I got to figure out who is going to be punching and fighting the whole season, the whole 90 minutes.”

On if there will be some changes for next week

“It’s a bit early for that, but I would think so.”

On if there was too much respect for Real Salt Lake

“They play a certain style of game. It’s a possession game. We just kept going backwards and not stepping into people. We tended to drop and have low pressure, but that doesn’t mean no pressure. You still got to try to win the ball back and then break. I don’t want to be that deep, but we ended up that deep. You got to see that game through. We’ve got to be man enough to see that game through, and we didn’t.”

On positives from that performance

“We scored two goals. I guess that’s a positive. When you lose it’s sickening. It’s very difficult to take. First half, Sean made some good saves and we played pretty well. Then a crazy 15-20 minute spell, we give the game to them, which is really disappointing.”

Jeff Larentowicz, Chicago Fire midfielder and captain

On what changed from the first half to the second half:

“We stopped doing things in the second half that we did well in the first – we conceded ground, allowed them to play in our end, didn’t connect passes once we had it, and if you do that against a good team they are going to beat you.”

On how RSL was able to do that:

“They crowd the ball, they get a lot of numbers, and they’re good at finding ways to keep possession. They make you work defensively, so once you get it you’re tired and they wear you down. I don’t think it was a conscious thing where we said ‘alright let’s hunker down,’ we just have to defend and defend properly.”

On how to move forward:

“This is a mental test for us. All the positives we’ve been putting on things, we can’t do it any longer. It’s been weeks and tonight it’s a loss, it’s not a game where can say we played a complete game and didn’t get the points, we didn’t. We have to look at the mistakes we made and move on. Like I said, it’s a mental challenge; we can’t go in the negative direction. The guys have to keep a positive attitude, guys have to honestly assess what they are doing personally to a man, go home and figure out how they are going to work harder and push themselves to have a positive attitude and push on. At this point it’s difficult – you can go one of two directions and we have to push forward and have to expect that we can learn from our mistakes and move on.”

Sean Johnson, Chicago Fire goalkeeper

On the result:

“I think it’s obvious that it doesn’t feel great, after we were up 2-0 and losing at home. I can’t really describe the emotions right now; it’s a difficult one to swallow at home, being up. We can’t make excuses for it though. We were not good enough.”

On the shift in the game:

“We have to search for answers. I don’t know what happened, we were up 2-0 on cruise control, the game was in our hands and they scored one, they scored two, get the momentum and before you know it they won the game.”

On what’s next for the team:

“This was definitely a test for us. We’ve got to look at ourselves, there’s no one for us to blame. We’ve got to look at ourselves in the locker room and come up with a solution. We keep digging a hole for ourselves, there’s no reason at this point in the season we should be where we are - we should be close to the top of the table. We’ve had games in hand; off the top of my head we’ve had four games now that I feel like we should have gotten a win. Scratch the ties, we’ve taken a step back now with the loss. We’ve got to get back to training. We can’t get down; we can’t let something like this affect the mood of the team. We have to keep chugging along; we have a handful of games left, so we have to dig in.”

On the difficulty of staying positive during the winless streak:

“This is our job, professionally, game in and game out we have to have the same attitude and find a way to win games, plain and simple. We’ve been through everything tactically, physically and mentally I think now we have to find what it takes to win these games.”

On the coach’s reaction to the loss:

“Obviously we’re not happy with ourselves and the coaching staff is obviously disappointed with the result – there’s really not much more to say. There’s disappointment all the way around.”

“Tough one. Déjà vu from the last home game we had. Should have four more points than we’ve got. The team kept going, fighting and that’s good. It feels empty because of the way we have put a lot of effort into the games we’ve had and you don’t get rewarded for it. I think we’ve played pretty well, created some good chances today, had another chance in the last dying seconds to win it and we didn’t. We deserved to win. We had some good performances today. Overall, I can’t fault the guys for effort.“

On quality of penalty and Mike Magee not taking it

“It wasn’t a good penalty kick. Mike missed his last one. Jeff scored a penalty this season. I’m 50 yards away, I can scream whatever I want, it’s up to them to sort it out and who’s taking it, and they decided Juan is taking it”

On the referee and Quincy Amarikwa’s second yellow card

“Didn’t touch him. It’s maybe a foul on Quincy, he’s not diving. He gets run into and he goes down. I can’t comment on the referee, but he’s wasn’t good. He missed some plays that were important in this match.”

On the morale of the team

“Nope, It’s fine. We know we should have won two more games, maybe three, but we haven’t. It’s not like we have fumbled through the game. I thought we played well today. I thought we played well, we dominated. They had some spells, they’re a good team. But you look at the chances and stuff that we did, it’s just disappointing that we don’t have a win.”

On the missing piece to get over that hump

“The missing piece is ice-cold finishing in the last seconds of a game. Away from home it’s difficult to win matches, but at home you got to win. That’s how you get your points and do well on the year. We’ve had two games, and there is no time left on the clock, and we have a penalty kick. The players know that it is important to score that. It’s just a shame we haven’t gotten the points for the performances we’ve had. It’s a long season, but you can’t keep falling behind the guys ahead of you.”

Jeff Larentowicz, Chicago Fire defender

On the result, missing two penalty kicks at the end of games:

“It was bizarre - to see that once is tough, but twice is even worse. It is tough to take.”

On Anangono taking the penalty kick:

“Juan stepped up and grabbed the ball, and that’s just what happened. As the captain and the one who’s made a penalty this year I should have been the one to take the penalty but I didn’t – that’s on me, not on Juan.”

On the second yellow on Amarikwa:

“I’m not going to comment on referee decisions. In the end, it’s a red card and it’s something we’ll have to deal with. Quincy has been outstanding for us. It’s going to be a shame to have to miss him the next game, but we’ll move on.”

On not getting a result:

“The last three games we’ve certainly been the better team – Philadelphia, Montreal and tonight. I don’t think that tonight the other team really wanted to win from the start. They were slowing the game down in the first half and got fortunate on the penalty call. I think it was a penalty because Patrick [Nyarko] clipped him, they got the goal they wanted and they slowed down. In the run of play, outside the last couple of minutes when we were pushing forward, I’m not sure they get a shot on goal from open play. All-in-all it’s more of the same, but if we can get wins going forward it will be ok.”

On the string of draws:

“We feel like we’re playing so well at the start of the year and the build-up of points we feel should have makes the draws tough to take. Again, the way the next game goes – up or down will say a lot. If we win we’re unbeaten with a win. If not, things look a little differently. Everyone needs to stay positive and keep pushing. The good thing is that we’ve been the better team the last three games.”

On the play of Harry Shipp:

“Harry has been outstanding. If I had to say two guys that have pulled us through the first seven games, it’s definitely been Harry and Quincy. As soon I, and I’m sure the coaches, saw him we knew he was going to do something for us this year, and he has, and needs to continue.”

Quincy Amarikwa, Chicago Fire forward

On foul that led to his second yellow card:

“Clearly I don’t think it was a foul, but it’s not my decision to make so what can you do?”

On his goal:

“The ball came back to Harry, I had space in the middle, pointed and he put the ball right where I wanted him to. I took my first touch into the box, put a bit of my body on Farrell, saw that the keeper’s legs were open and put the ball between his legs and that was that.”

On the result:

“It’s disappointing to not come away with three points, but we’re putting ourselves in a position to win games. Juan puts that PK in and it’s a different outlook. As long as we’re coming away with points we’re carrying this confidence into future games and it’s just a matter of time before we’re coming away with some wins.”

Patrick Nyarko, Chicago Fire forward

On his performance:

“Since I got suspended, I had a week to reevaluate my game, I was struggling physically and that red card at the game in Portland affected me mentally. I decided to get back to basics and just play my game. I think it’s been ok so far during the past three weeks but I’m still not happy because we’re not getting the wins. I hope to keep playing the same, getting better and that we get the win soon.”

On draws at home:

“It’s been extremely frustrating, especially since we’re dominating teams, we’re out playing teams and creating the best chances and we’re not getting wins – that’s the most frustrating part. I keep telling the guys that if we keep playing like this we’re not going to lose a lot of games and the tide is not always going to go against us like this. We just need to keep pushing and sustain that until the end of the game. We need to buckle down, even though we’re frustrated, and the wins will come.”

On how this year’s start compares to last year’s start:

“It feels differently this year because we are dominating teams. The last three weeks we feel like we deserved victories, judging from the fact that we that we’ve had possession and have created more chances than the other team – that’s been the most frustrating part. We know we can play the soccer, now it’s just how to find the victories – that’s the test for us right now.”

On the bye next week:

“We wish we were still playing just because we need to build momentum. The week off breaks that up, but guys are experienced and we know what we’re doing right and will continued that stride when we play again.”

“I thought we played very well the whole game. We really deserved the win, I think, today. Having said that, going a goal down right before halftime is never a good time. My team talk was to keep going. We were going to get chances, get that equalizer and hopefully go on to win the game. I’m very proud of the way we continued playing against a difficult side.”

On how to get their first win

“If we keep playing like that, the wins will come. For me as a coach, I could only ask for effort, play and to create chances. We’re getting punished for the odd chance the opposition is getting right now. In our last two games we’ve played well enough to win both games, but we haven’t. So we got to keep going and not worry about it.”

On the Jack McInerney and Marco Di Vaio partnership

“I had a feeling they may do that, with Jack coming into the team and them going for a home win. We were prepared for that. I think both of them run in behind very well. And to be honest, if you look at their goal, they did it well.”

Forward Mike Magee

On the game’s outcome

“Today was a good result. We’ve improved as the season has gone on. Today I felt we had a couple of missed opportunities. We were the better team, and you know it’s just unfortunate.”

On his side’s confidence heading into the second half a goal down

“Obviously you don’t want to give up a goal at the end of the half. At halftime, we said to keep doing what we were doing, keep plugging away and don’t break our shape. We felt like we were going to get the equalizer and we also felt like we were going to get the winner, but it didn’t come.”

Forward Quincy Amarikwa

On scoring the equalizer

“We were confident to get everyone in the box as much as possible, just force the issue and pressure until something fell our way. I think Montreal was on their heels most of that sequence up until that goal and I felt it was just a matter of time until one of us put it away.”

On what is needed to get their first win of the season

“A shutout. I mean if we can hold another team to zero goals, we’ll win. We’re scoring goals every game and that’s what you want out of your offense. Collectively as a team, we just need to lock it down and not have any lapses in defense.”

“Obviously very disappointed to not come away with 3 points today, especially going 2-1 down in the game, fighting back to 2-2, and having a penalty kick with no time left; I think it was almost storybook, but it would’ve been great for us to win the game in that manner. Having said that, for a neutral, great game to watch; you guys are watching it, it’s a difficult pitch, we need to sort that out. Other than that, I had a talk with the guys at halftime. I questioned them a little bit about ‘Did we really want to win? Did we really fancy our chances to come back into this game?’ I thought we responded well, I thought we showed heart, and that’s all I’m asking for, and we had a chance to win the game. So, disappointed we didn’t win it, but all in all, maybe our luck could turn in the next game.”

On Philadelphia’s second goal and set pieces

“Well, I think the set-up, to be honest, a very good service, it’s set up to do that: you’re aiming for the back post, you’re getting runners across the goal and goalkeeper. It either bounces and goes in the far post, or someone gets a touch, so it was a great service. We’ve been really, really poor; and I wouldn’t say it’s just individual stuff, but really poor on set plays generally, conceding goals. We have to clean that up, and it’s something that we’ve been working on, we’ve looked a little bit better at it, but it’s still something that’s hurting us, so we need to address it and keep going. Again, I go back to the last 10 minutes of the game, and we’re pushing to try and get something out of it, and I’d like to say I’m proud of the guys, the way they kept going in a difficult match, and didn’t lie down and die, didn’t accept the tie. We tried to win the match, and you’ll be talking to Mike [Magee] later on, he’d love to have that back. Listen, penalty kicks are difficult, it’s a precious situation, and sometimes they go in, sometimes they don’t. I just saw it, and the kid [Philadelphia goalkeeper Zac MacMath] made a great save on it, so, tough.”

On the issues behind set pieces

“Second balls. We talked about it, we’ve shown them, we’ve worked on it in training. You can’t force us to be like that, but you can make habits out of it, so we’ll just keep working on it. We’ll address it again on Monday, we’ll go over video, we’ll go over it in training, we’ll talk about being alert when the ball is bouncing about, getting to errors. It’s dangerous, it’s not always about staying with your guy, it’s about heading the ball out, and I think we kind of get a little bit caught with ‘I’ve got my fellow, but in the end, you could’ve helped out and cleared the ball.’ So, good service, I thought it was a good service by the fellow [Philadelphia midfielder Leonardo Fernandes], and I think that in the end, we couldn’t deal with it; but it was a pretty good goal on their behalf.”

On the performance by the Fire midfield

“I really think, and I’m not blaming the pitch, but we couldn’t really get into rhythm, especially in the first half, to play any stuff we wanted to. I went with Matt [Watson] and Jeff [Larentowicz] because I felt the center of that park is strong with Maurice Edu and [Brian] Carroll, so I wanted to match up with them, and I thought Patrick [Nyarko] would be a good matchup for anybody wide…I thought he had a good first half, he’s not played for a little bit, and I thought he did well. I thought the matchups were good. Young Harry [Shipp] plays a little bit inside, so I wanted to maybe have a little bit of balance. I thought we played great for 20 minutes, to be honest…we scored a goal early, we could’ve gotten the second one. All in all, formations are formations. What I will say, is that subs made a difference again, and that’s why they’re there; like I always say, it’s about guys that don’t play, or substitutes in the match, to be ready to go, because you are the difference in the match. I thought Dilly [Duka], Juan [Luis Anangono], and Alex made a difference, I think that in the end, it’s not just the 11 starters, it’s everybody that contributes.”

On learning more about the team and looking for the right team to field

“I think so. We’ve played preseason games, but in the end, it doesn’t really matter, there’s nothing on those games. These are the games, four points, that matter. I’m still learning about a lot of players, I’m still learning about the squad. We’re unbeaten in four, by the way, so that for me is always a good thing for a coach. We haven’t won in five, which is not a good thing, so I try to look positive; we have to look for the next game. I thought we did enough to win this match today; I’m not saying that Philly weren’t very good or anything, which they were, but I felt in the end we pushed, we had two really good chances to score late, Mike having both of them, the penalty kick and the left footed shot. I think it would’ve been a deserved win. We’re not far off, we have to keep going and not worry about not winning, because if you start worrying about it, you won’t play well; so, it’s my job to make sure that they don’t worry about it, take the pressure off them and just get them to play, and the wins will come once we get that.”

Mike Magee, Chicago Fire Forward

On what he saw on the penalty kick:

“I saw the goalie save it, which was unfortunate, and then I tried to tap it in and it was saved again. Obviously it was more his moment than mine.”

On his goal:

“It’s hard to talk about that to be honest. It’s good to get the monkey off my back, but the only thing on my mind is not winning. I had a pretty sweet opportunity to be the hero, but it wasn’t meant to be I guess.”

On another draw:

“We want to win, and we need to win at home to be a successful team. I hate to lose more than I love to win, which is pretty cliché, but as long as we’re not dropping games at home I feel like we’re heading in the right direction. Sometimes when you squeak out games you don’t deserve to win it’s unjust, but tonight we deserved to win and we deserved three points. We’re not getting it but I feel like it’s going to translate.”

On the importance of getting the first win:

“The first one is the hardest. I feel like the longer you go without winning, your confidence goes down, plays become harder and you over-think everything. Sometimes when you’re winning, plays become easy because you don’t care if you lose. The first win would have been perfect for us tonight. The stars were aligned for it and it didn’t happen.”

Jeff Larentowicz, Chicago Fire Midfielder

On midfield’s performance:

“It’s another example of how we’re not getting beat in open play. I think we had a very solid scouting report coming in and I think we did well to shut it down. We gave up some fouls in dangerous places and they scored on restarts.”

On playing his partnership with Watson:

“It’s good. Matt’s an honest guy, he’s going to run all day long and he’s been fantastic since he’s gotten here. He’s playing right back where he’s never played before. We put him in the midfield, where he’s more natural, and he’ll run and cover ground and do all those things. Whatever the coaches decide going forward, it’s good, if it’s Matt, then great.”

On what the team needs to do to get a win:

“Once we get a lead, we need to hold onto it. I think every game we’ve tied, we’ve been ahead and we haven’t held on. It’s all about having a consistent performance the whole game. In the first half we played well, then we had a lull and gave up goals.”

On the emotions on how the game ended:

“There’s no catharsis. We continue to seem like we’re there, but we’re not. You try and pick a bright side and say we’re not losing, we’re coming back, we’re fighting, the substitutes are making a difference, new guys are coming – there are a lot of positives but in the end there’s a hole, there’s not a win, there’s not three points in the standings.

“Confident, you know, we have not lost in two matches and I always look at the positive if I can, and you know we haven’t lost in three, that’s the way I look at it. We haven’t won a game yet this season but again, it’s not easy to win games, especially away from home in this league so we are looking forward to playing at home next weekend and hopefully we can get that in.”

Sean Johnson, Chicago Fire Goalkeeper

On the team’s defensive effort:

“I thought it was good, to be fair. I thought it was just a bit unfortunate. The second goal there was a bit of pinball action around. They got good forcing and I thought we had some similar situations where we had the ball in their box and things didn’t really fall our way, but that’s just the way it goes, that’s soccer for you. I think we’ve done well and at the end of the day we’ve got to look at it. We got a point. We came in and I think we deserved three. We played well enough to get three, but it is just up to us to really push over that hump and turn the ties into wins.”

On the tough field conditions:

“It’s alright, I mean it’s part of the game. We train in Chicago – it’s been snowy, it’s been rainy, it’s been cold, so the conditions we are used to. You know, so it’s nothing we don’t see on a regular basis. The conditions were tough, but at the end of the day, we are professionals, it’s what we signed up for and we deal with it.”

Quincy Amarikwa, Chicago Fire Forward

On having three consecutive draws

“It’s the third straight game we got points, I mean that’s how you got to look at it. Not dropping points, especially on the road, is huge in this league. If you look at teams that make the playoffs on a regular basis, they don’t lose, they at least get a draw or a win and you know that’s how it goes. And if we can come away with points every single time on the road, I will take them.”

On the difficult conditions

“You know, whenever it is raining like that it can get a little slick and hard to control the ball at times. You saw that last play; Pat played a good ball in behind that took a touch, on a regular field that holds up, for me today, it skips away. Just the elements you’ve got to deal with, and hopefully it starts clearing up everywhere across the league because everywhere we’ve been, the elements haven’t been too kind to us.”

“Obviously disappointed to not come away with a win, but for the effort, I thought both teams played pretty well on a difficult surface today. What I did like about our guys was that we were probably closer to winning the match than to losing it, so that’s always good. We had a couple of good chances to get that second goal. I think that one chance, I haven’t seen the game on tape, Mike Magee’s chance late with his left foot there. Having said that, we didn’t lose the match; I thought we did some bright stuff, we tried to play the way we want to play, but I guess in the end, a draw is a fair result.”

On young guys making their first appearances at home

“I thought they did well. It’s never easy for these young guys to come in and play in such a big stage. I think both Harry [Shipp] and Benji [Joya] last week did a good job and played well today again. Victor’s [Pineda] first taste was today; I’ve seen more of Victor than he did today, but having said that, I think it’s always good to give those guys a chance to blossom and play; and I think that from our injury situation right now it’s a chance for a lot of guys to get some minutes and play and see how they get on, so I was pleased with all three of them.”

On game plan

“Well, I think the difficult part was we wanted to obviously possess the ball better and play better, obviously play our type of game, a possession-based high press; but I think that the field didn’t really suit either team. When we started the press a little bit, they just banged it along and we did the same, so it kind of got you a little bit of a scrappy affair. What I liked about the team was we did create some good chances in those sort of scrappy moments. I was pleased with that, and we had some good moments where I think on a decent surface we might have had a chance at scoring a goal; game plan changed a little bit, once we saw the surface we talked about it, we couldn’t take any chances trying to play out of the back too much with the field. Having settled that, there was some good play in the final third from both teams, but I thought we had some good looks today, but we didn’t finish them.”

On Matt Watson’s play and versatility

“I’ve known Matt for a number of years, as I’ve stated before, but I just like those type of players that can slot in anywhere; kind of get what I want out of the player, and he does that, he gives you 100% any position he plays. I thought he played very well last week, I thought he played very well today; maybe some early moments, a little bit he had to get used to that position, but once he did, you saw he sticks to his task, and he does all the things I ask of him so it was a great pickup for us. He’s slotted in well with the injury situation we’ve had, the suspension as well, so, I thought he played well.”

On Mike Magee’s Performance

“Mike’s not played a game for maybe 6 weeks, so, not to say it showed, but what I liked about it [was that] we spoke at halftime, he said ‘I’m fine.’ Once he gets through, once he gets into his rhythm, he’ll be fine. But, again, he had that good look, I think he had another chance, I think it was on a cross, I wouldn’t say usually he would probably score, but pretty close to it; but it’s good to get 90 minutes. He’s a big part of what we’re trying to do, and a big part of the club. He soldiered on, he looked tired obviously at the end; but he soldiered on, and on the break maybe we could’ve used him to get that winning goal, but it wasn’t to be today. But I was pleased with Mike’s performance.”

On the defense’s progress

“You’re playing against two really, really good players in [Tim] Cahill and [Thierry] Henry. They’re very, very crafty, they’ve played at the highest level, so it’s never an easy day. And I think, especially Thierry Henry, he knows how to find the spaces and he’s difficult to pick up. What I liked about us, especially the second half, we started to stay with runners and figure it out a little bit better than the first half. I thought they had a couple of opportunities in the first half where they carved us up a little bit from late runs, but we talked about it at halftime and I think we adjusted well and snuffed them out a little bit. They did have some situations that they looked dangerous on, but all in all, I was pleased with the back four and the defensive work we did.”

Harry Shipp, Chicago Fire midfielder

On the first half:

“We definitely had a good start to the game, we had some good chances after to make it 2-0, but unfortunately they pulled a goal back. Overall, I thought it was a pretty good start heading into the half.”

On how comfortable he is:

“It’s only my second game professionally. I’ve played less than 180 minutes total so it’s still a little fast. I’m still getting a hold of things, in terms of getting comfortable going forward, focusing on defensive responsibilities and keeping things simple. I’m trying to get those balls, playing those passes because that’s what I like to do - I like to set up those guys up top to score some goals. Hopefully it shows in the next couple of games.”

On the surface:

“It was a little choppy. We tried to get the ball in their attacking half and not play around with in our own half because you never know; you could slip or play a bad pass because of the field.

Going forward when the field starts to get better we’ll start to get better possessing in the attacking half and hopefully we’ll score some more goals.”

Mike Magee, Chicago Fire forward

On how he feels:

“I’d feel better with a win, but individually I thought the first half I was sloppy and was having a hard time trying to find the ball. Hats off to them, they came in with a great game plan.”

On the result:

“I would have preferred a win, but it’s nice to get the first game behind you.”

On the field conditions:

“It was rough and bumpy. It was hard and took about two touches to get the ball under control, which was unfortunate for both teams. But considering how bad the weather was, it should have been a lot worse. It was actually a lot better than I was expecting it to be.”

On the physical play:

“It got chippy at times, I don’t think it was too bad. As the game when on it was so wide open that both teams were just trying to end the play as quickly as possible. The pitch was so bumpy that it got to a point that it was even hard to counter or connect passes to the middle, so the whole team was just knocking it forward.”

On play of the younger players:

“These kids are good – Benji [Joya] and Harry [Shipp] are both good. That’s the plus to take away from these first three games. The future with them looks good and they will only get better.”

Victor Pineda, Chicago Fire midfielder

On his first professional appearance:

“It’s a lot of fun to be out there. It’s something that I’ve been working for, for a while now. It was exciting just to be in a game that was 1-1 knowing that you can score the goal to help your team win the game.”

On waiting for the appearance:

“I didn’t lose hope, but at times it got frustrating. I think that helped me to mature in a lot of ways. Mentally I’m a lot tougher now than I was, not just from when I first signed but from just a year ago or two years ago and I think that’s going to help me a lot in the future.”

On what Frank Yallop said to him before he entered the match:

“He just said to enjoy it and he asked me if I was ready and just laughed a little bit. I feel like I’ve been ready for a while.”

“Well, good to get a point, our first point this season. I thought we played very well in the first half; could have maybe been two-up, but that’s soccer. You’ve got to take your chances, but, in the end, with what happened in the match, getting the red card and being under a lot of pressure at the end, I think we did well to hold onto the point. Had a couple chances real late to maybe win it, so all-in-all happy with the performance of the team and, obviously, not overly pleased we didn’t get three points, but it’s a start for us. We’re building for the future.”

On the four line-ups changes from last week’s match against Chivas USA:

“Just wanted to freshen it up. I thought it wasn’t good enough last week when we played at Chivas USA. I thought we performed very well today. Harry Shipp had his first game, was great. Benji Joya had a start as well. Matt Watson, who I picked up from Vancouver, had a tremendous game today. I had Quincy Amarikwa up top and I thought Quincy was a real handful all game. He’s doing well, he works hard at his game, and those guys did really well today and I was happy.”

On the team’s performance:

“The response today was excellent. I thought our character was strong, we didn’t buckle, we kept going. That’s the sign of a good team, so hopefully that’s the sign for us moving forward. We don’t really have any natural wingers and I think Portland’s strength is down the middle. Once they get themselves dipped inside they’re very good in those underneath positions, underneath the back four and [Darlington] Nagbe coming off the line and stuff like that. So tactically we plugged the middle and I think we did a great job of that. Nicking balls and then broke on them a few times. Maybe could have punished them a bit better in the first half, but still our game plan worked. I thought we nullified a lot of the play, especially the first 60 minutes. Again, it was a good performance by us and I’m proud of the guys and proud of the way they handled themselves today.”

Thoughts on the red card for Nyarko:

“To be honest, I’d have to look at it again. But you have to make sure that’s worthy of a second yellow. I thought the first one, Nagbe had already played it, why didn’t he just play on or give a foul and not a yellow? The second one, it was right in front us. Patrick [Nyarko] was on the other side, so I couldn’t really see, but again it’s got to be worthy of the foul. I can’t really comment until I see it.”

Fire midfielder Matt Watson

On his first start in his first game with the Fire:

“It’s obviously good to get into the team. Obviously, I’ve got a lot to learn about how [Chicago] play and things like that. All the guys have been really welcoming since I’ve been here. We’ve come to Portland and to get a hard-fought point is good, but it’s disappointing we couldn’t get three.”

On Chicago’s performance

“I think we just need to clean up on small things. You can see the fight is there, things like that. All the basic fundamental things are there, but we need to just maybe relax a little bit on the ball; just play. If we can just take a step back, relax, play, we’ll be great this year. We’ve got some great guys. [Quincy] Amarikwa was fighting for every ball. When you see that, it just inspires you to play and get behind him and push up, things like that. If we clean up on the small things we’ll be great.”

Fire midfielder Harry Shipp

On making his debut

“It was obviously exciting, especially playing here for 90 minutes in front of a great crowd. It’s definitely something I’ve been working towards my entire life and to finally make the debut is special. I wish, obviously, we would have gotten the three points. Thought we had it at the end in stoppage time, but overall not too bad of a way to start.”

On Chicago’s tactical approach to Portland

“We had a lot of changes from the lineup last week, so I think our first and foremost responsibility was getting those good spots defensively. I think Lovel [Palmer] on the right, Gonzalo [Segares] on the left really did a good job talking to the outside mids in terms of cutting off those interior passes because obviously that’s what Portland likes to do first is find those guys in the seams. So I think, kind of forcing them wide, we were able to do that and kept them from being extremely dangerous.”

On Chicago’s performance:

“Quincy did a great job drawing the penalty kick first. I think we came out confident. We didn’t want to be shy. We felt like we didn’t come out with as much energy as we would have liked to last week, so we really wanted to change that this week. Then giving up the goal wasn’t what we wanted, but I think we responded pretty well. We had a couple good chances after we gave up that goal to actually steal the game and win 2-1. So overall I think we responded pretty well to giving up the goal.”

On whether, with all of the chances and the red card, it still seemed like a 3-0 game:

No, not at all. We give up the red card and then playing shorthanded, and the first goal was soft. We were coming from behind. Really, we pushed the game. We had chances to tie the game and it doesn’t go your way and then they got a PK. For me, it’s all questionable, but regardless, the team left everything on the field. I feel good about the group. We have to regroup and get ready for next week.

On whether, down 1-0 at half, Chicago was trying to tie the game or still get three points:

You just have to be smart. We had our chances. I think if we would have scored, they would have been under pressure, but we hit the post, we had some good opportunities in the final third and sometimes it just isn’t your night.

On trying to beat a team four times in a season:

It isn’t easy to beat a team four times in one season, but it’s very difficult when you’re playing shorthanded also. We played for the majority of the game, almost 60 minutes, shorthanded, and the guys competed and left it all on the field. We pushed the game. We took risks because what’s the point? 1-0 or 2-0 you still lose, for me it doesn’t matter at that point. We had the chances and we didn’t get [the goal]. The second goal really kills us, the PK shorthanded, questionable but whatever. It is what it is. We’ve just got to move on.

Chicago Fire midfielder Dilly Duka

On the loss:

We have played this team four times this year – you can’t win them all. This is MLS. They scored an early goal, they played well, and we were a little unlucky. I thought I was fouled in the first 25 minutes in the box. I clearly got pushed. The guy didn’t even touch the ball, but that’s how it goes sometimes. Can’t look back – got to look forward.

On the second half:

We definitely believed we could come back and tie, maybe even win the game. There was no doubt in that locker room at halftime about coming out of this game with a loss.

On ‘new-look’ Crew under Bliss:

I thought they were a good team with Robert [Warzycha]. I think they have good personnel and players, but it was just their day.

Chicago Fire midfielder Jeff Larentowicz

On the loss:

We hit the posts, we hit the crossbar, we got opportunities – overall though we were just not good enough. But in the end we have five more games left and we’re right there. We have been in this spot before. We knew it was going to be a tough road game coming in, but we have games to play and there is going to be more opportunities.

On impact of second goal:

The next goal was going to be big. We knew that if we could keep it at one to nothing we could probably develop opportunities and create chances. The second goal was one that put the game out of reach.

On difficulty of beating teams four times a season:

We knew that coming in, but at the same time we were focused on the end result. This is a tough part of the year. We are a team that knows we can do things on the road, but tonight it wasn’t our best and when you’re not on your best you get beat.

“I thought the mentality and the attitude was incredible for the team. Most important thing is that you have a good locker room. It was one of those games that when you think of the history of the team this is one of the games that’s out there. Coming from behind and never giving up and creating chances. It was an exciting game, not so much for the coaches.”

On the players possibly being tired from being on the road

“The difference with this is that we played two on the road. The guys were fatigued so we have to make some changes. We had a game plan going in but the last ten minutes we felt like the game was open. Alex obviously gives us a lot in possession, but he is also very good in tight areas. All of the subs and all the players on the field did fantastic tonight.”

On being in playoff position

“We had a slow start with some of the injuries. I just think that the team never gave up. We fought hard. The changes we made helped on and off the field. The group has the right mentality. You want to be right there in the end and we are right there, so there is a lot to play for. We are very excited to be in the position. The guys have earned it with all the hard work. We are not happy where we are but it is a step to where we want to be.”

On changes he would make to the defense

“It seems like this ref missed every single call for us. They got a play out of nothing that’s why I was frustrated. It’s never easy giving up a goal in the forty-fifth minute. I told the group that it’s good to play with emotions but you have to keep it under control not to do anything silly now. We just kept playing and came out with a lot of energy.”

On changes to the starting lineup

“One of the reasons, I said it’s the third game within a week. We monitor the recovery of some of the guys with the technology that we have. The thing with this is that we traveled. Some of the guys were fatigued obviously we can’t make changes for everyone. What you saw tonight is that we have a good group and everyone is ready to contribute to play.”

Mike Magee Chicago Fire forward

On Alex’s goal

“My reaction was at first I was about to go nuts, but then I looked at him and thought it didn’t go in because he didn’t celebrate. I was in extreme disappointment and then went nuts again. It was amazing. We’ve been trying to get that type of goal at the end of a game for a while now, and now that it’s finally come at such an important time feels massive.”

On the win taking some pressure off

“For sure [it takes the pressure off]. This is probably our third chance at trying to get a win and move into the top five, it’s nice to get that weight off of our back after all the work we’ve done just to put ourselves into a top five spot. To get over the hump is a big step.”

On the locker room at the half

“I thought it was good. Jeff [Larentowicz] came in and said a few words, but I just got the impression that everyone knew what was at stake and it wasn’t one of those times where we were all disappointed that we gave a goal at the end. We had the mentality that we were going to get it back. It was a good quiet half.”

On Juan Luis Anangono’s play

“He was involved in a big way. His goal was huge to tie it up the first time and helped on my goal tied it up the second time. He put his body in front of a defender who was just going to clear, to shield it just so I have a chance. If he doesn’t do that I’m not scoring a goal. He was great today.”

On scoring his 10th goal with the Fire:

“The win means everything. I’m not going to start goal counting, not just yet. To get that win, the tying goal and to help the team is better than 10 goals.”

Jeff Larentowicz, Chicago Fire midfielder

On what he said to the team at the half:

“I said we’re down a goal and we can’t treat the second half too lightly. It’s basically 45 minutes to keep ourselves in it. Every week the season gets shorter, obviously, and the chances to get into the playoffs and make a push become less and less, so I just said to make sure the last 45 minutes to give it their all.”

On the frustration at the end of the first half:

“I wouldn’t say it was frustrating, they just made a good play. It’s frustrating to be down 2-1, but the team responded well in front of our fans, in front of our crowd – they kept us going and we pushed until the end. I thought it was a great effort.”

Juan Luis Anangono Chicago Fire forward:

On his first goal with the Fire:

“I’m very, very happy with the goal. I’m very happy with the consistency of the team and I’m happy with the work that was done on the field to come back and get the win tonight.”

On his involvement in the game:

“It always takes a little bit of time to get acclimated to a new lifestyle, but I thank everyone here at the Chicago Fire and Section 8 supporters because they’ve been so great to me. Every day I feel better and more involved with the team and it shows with my performance on the field.”

On his role Magee’s goal

“I was trying to shield the defender so that pass wouldn’t get blocked and Mike could come in and just tap it in. Luckily it worked out and Mike could score for the team.”

“I felt the team played well - played really well - and definitely deserved to walk away with points from here but that’s not how it goes sometimes, so we have to regroup. I think [we can] learn from some little things that we could do better and just regroup fast because we have to move on to the next game in Toronto. There’s a lot of games coming up and we just have to move on.”

On the own goal

“It happens.You’re running behind sometimes, the ball comes [...] those things happen. I just felt, I think, that the team put a lot into the game. We had some very good moments, created chances, and it’s a little disappointing right now not to walk away with points, but that’s how it is. We have to regroup and like I said just get ready for the next game now.”

On why Mike Magee did not play in the second half

“He had a groin situation, you know. With the amount of games coming up, and being on turf this game and stuff […] He tweaked it a little […] It could have been worse. He came out, hopefully we got it in time and hopefully he’ll be ready for Wednesday.”

On his game plan for the second half

“Obviously we talked about that in transition and just trying to be positive. We wanted the ball back, looked to play forward, even after dribble, look to go at them right away. We wanted to make sure we switched the point of attack always because they’re pretty compact and they over-rotate and spaces would be out wide. And when it wasn’t on, just making sure that we were good with the ball, just keeping it and making sure that the guys were moving off the ball and giving options for the guy with it. So, basically that’s it. Being on the road, and in a place like this, it’s never easy. I thought they played well. You feel for the group because they put a lot into the game but I think it’s going to make us better for the next one. We just have to move on and be ready for Wednesday now.”

On Magee’s goal

“The whole combo, the play was fantastic. Dilly [Duka] coming inside, playing the through ball. We had some very good moments where we were able to combine and play. I think when we started the game and we played to feet and we had good movement off the ball, we were very dangerous. And we scored a great goal.”

On inserting Daniel Paladini late in the match

“I just think Chris ran hard and we needed some fresh legs at that point. Danny coming in, I think provided that, because I just felt we needed some fresh legs late in the game, with seven minutes left.”

On Lamar Neagle’s goal

“I think with that, anything that comes in the box […] I think the position was good. I think it’s more from the baseline. I think you have to be aware of where the ball is, both references and see the movement of the players. Sometimes the ball just pops right there, the guy was in a good position and he scored. It’s going to happen, you know?”

On the team’s tendency to give up late goals

“It comes down to little things, details. I think if we score the second goal, it’s different. Maybe we walk away. We had the chances, we didn’t. I feel like sometimes things will happen in a game like that.”

Sean Johnson, Chicago Fire Goalkeeper

On the game

“I thought it was hard fought. I thought we played actually a really good game. I was proud of the guys, we really battled. I thought over the course of 90 minutes—Seattle’s not an easy place to play—we made it difficult for them. I think they were fortunate to come away with a victory at the end. I think we deserved at least a point out of that game. It’s a bit unfortunate for us given the way that we played on the night but it’s just one of those things. We have to regroup and refocus and get ready for Toronto on Wednesday. It’s going to be a short week for us so the good thing is we get back on the training pitch and we have another game in a few days and we’re able to get back to it.”

On the penalty kick save

“I was just trying to make a play and save it. It’s just one of those things where you get in there and you try to react and make a good decision. I think you can do one of two things—you can make your mind up or try to read and react and I just did the best I could to save a PK.”